Twenty-four years ago, I had no idea what the acronym MRDD meant (mental retardation and developmental disabilities), much less what the Hamilton County Board of MRDD was all about. Then our son Joel was born. It took awhile to get a diagnosis of Pervasive Developmental Disabilities and Moderate Mental Retardation, and even longer to get [...]

Nursing a cold drink in a shaded courtyard, tired from tromping up and down the cobble-stoned hills of San Juan, Puerto Rico’s Old Town, I heard a distinctive laugh. Sure enough. There was my friend Tom Mullen, entertaining a table full of companions, no doubt expounding on the vagaries of old age and diabetes. I [...]